Based on a manuscript from Major Roar
Glenne (ret.), FMU and
the book "Ni dager i
april"

The
theatre of Operations around Trondheim and Jonsvatnet. Section taken
from a Luftwaffe Flugkarte.

During the German invasion of Trondheim
and Vaernes airfield on April 9th, the Airfield's soil was found too
soft to handle heavy Transport Planes and Bombers as Ju52's and
Ju88's. The near lying Lake Jonsvatnet was chosen as a ad hoc solution
until the Tarmac on Vaernes was improved. During the only 12-13 days it
was operational, Jonsvatnet was used a staging point for German bombing
and supply sorties to hotspots as Namsos and Narvik.

Jonsvatnet
sometime around april 1940. Copyright: Guttorm Fjeldstad.

The
first flights began on April 11th. Eighteen Ju52's from KGr. Z.b.V 105
landed on the Ice with muntion and Spare parts. A Flak perimeter around
the Lake was also established. Sections from KG 26 and KG 30 arrived on
Jonsvatnet with He111 and Ju88. Operational sorties from Jonsvatnet
began on April 15th with an attack on Namsos with some Ju88's from KG
30. U4+TK was one of the Planes participating in this attack. By April 15th, RAF began to take interest of the Airfield and
conducted armed Reconnaissance with Withleys from the 77. Bomber Command
Sqdr. over the area.

During the next days He111H from KGr.
100 and five Ju87 "Stuka" from St.G 1 also operates from
Jonsvatnet against targets around Narvik and Namsos. Allied landings
around Namsos and Harstad put a heavy pressure on German units operating
from Jonsvatnet and Vaernes, and this increased the sorites flown from
the 14th. On the 17th a damaged Ju88 from KG30 crash landed on the Ice
and was scavenged for reserve parts by the Mechanics. Two Ju52's crashed
in the same period, but their fate is not known.

By now the increasingly warmer weather
made takeoffs and landings only possible during the early mornings and
late evenings. During the most hectically periods there were about 36
Planes on the Ice, constantly being refuelled and rearmed for new
sorties. Allied War ships were high priority targets; on April 19th
He111's and Stukas from both KGr. 100 and St.G 1 attacked the French
Cruiser "Emil Bertin", the Cruiser was damaged, but managed to
limp back to Scapa Flow. On Adolf Hitler's birthday, the 20th, a larger
bomber offensive was staged against Namsos and Steinkjaer. Eighteen
Bombers from KG 30 and KGr. 100 participated in the attack. Later that
same day fourteen Bombers from KG 26, three from KG 30 and nine from
KGr. 100 joined in on the attacks. Namsos was almost completely levelled
after these attacks. The British Destroyer "Rutlandshire" got
hit and sank on the same day. Additional attacks on the Cruisers
"Carlisle" and "Curacao" was fought off in the
Romsdalsfjord.

The next day, the Destroyers
"Penn" and "Hercules II" got hit and sank outside
Molde by an attack from six Ju88's from KG 30. Early on the morning of
April 22nd a Wellington Bomber from the 625. Sqdr. flew over Jonsvatnet.
The Wellington Crew could count 16 Planes along with a Me109 tipped over
on the Ice. During the next days the Ice detoriated so much that Air
Operations no longer could be maintained from the Lake. Combined with an
improved wooden Runway on Vaernes the makeshift Airfield was finally
abandoned around 24th April.

Allied War ship
under attack by Ju88's during the Norwegian Campaign.

Copyright: "The
Life and death of the Luftwaffe", Werner Baumbach.
Coward-McCann Inc, 1960.

KG
30
on a frozen Lake in 1940, most probably Jonsvatnet. Copyright: www2images.com

Picture
no. A00196GR.

An unidentified Ju88 drawn over to
shore before it became a victim of the melting ice along with U4+TK.
Notice the spot; almost the same place as where U4+TK was placed on dry
land some 60 years later!

On the 25th, two Skuas from the Carrier
"Glorious" flew over the then deserted Airfield. The RAF
airmen only observed a He111 and a Ju88 half submerged through the Ice.
The German Planes were fired upon putting one of the wings of the Ju88
on fire. This attack marked the end of Jonsvatnet as an Airfield to Land
based aircraft, but later in the war a Seeflughafen was established for
Seaplanes. Some of the structures from this Seeflughafen are still
there.

This
Ju52 was another of the Planes the Germans had to leave behind on
Jonsvatnet, sadly the wreck of the Ju52 was destroyed during 1980's by
rocks from a newly constructed water intake.Copyright:
FMU.

Remains from a bomb dropped on Namsos in 1940.

Some of the personal Pictures taken by Artur Von
Casimir, one of the Pilots from KGr. 100 that used Jonsvatnet in april
1940, for the complete story to Artur check out the DVD "Vinger
under vann"

Von Casimir's original
Flugzeugfuhrerabzeichen. Casimir left this badge behind in 1940 before
participating in Weserübung.